Chapter 2
A/N: This may be a very emotional chapter, but I enjoyed writing this so much! I don't know how often I will upload this series, I know for a fact it will be no later than each week but I may do more than just once a week, Happy Halloween everyone! P.S. Don't get too depressed over this chapter! =3
John ran, all he could do was run. A full twenty-four hours after the initial load up people came down from the panic, guilds were built, murders started to appear. Things went to hell a ton quicker than John had expected.
"Hey you! I'm not done with you yet!" A man in heavy armor, a paladin, was chasing John. This man had accused John of theft and sought out to kill him for his crimes. Technically John could just stay in the towns since PKing in the cities wasn't allowed, but if he stayed, so would the paladin. When John would try to leave, he would practically be ambushed at the gates.
"Listen buddy. This can all come to an end here. Yes I may be a rouge but I have done nothing wrong! I have stolen nothing! I'm on your side! I wish to help everyone escape! I am an explorer of Aincrad!" John tried to reason with the paladin, nothing was working. The paladin just kept running after him. 'He has a high agility, but not as high as mine. I can out maneuver him. Gah! I'm going to hate doing this!'
John turned to face his opponent, whom slowed to a walk trying to intimidate John. "Listen, my name is John, I come from America, I am an outsider but I wish to help." "I don't care. You will pay for your sins!" The guy had lost it, he thinks there is some divine force driving him, yet it's his own free will gone insane. "Alright then. Fine, lets fight." John dashed at the man who swung his broadsword in anticipation of his moves. John found a weak spot to the man, his legs, while he boar a heavy chest plate, he lacked plate legs and instead had chainmail.
John took action; he slid under the paladin leaving him confused while he stabbed his dagger into the paladin's leg making him fall to the ground. The dagger was tipped with a paralysis poison, one of the hardest poisons to make, and even harder to make harmless. John had spent the entirety of the beta figuring out plants and other various materials to create potions and poisons.
The paladin was defenseless and unmoving. "You spineless coward! Kill me! Finish me!" Amazingly the paladin was strong enough to talk why he was paralyzed. "Sir, you have demonstrated the error of your ways. A rouge explorer like me wants nothing more than to help the quest to win, not hinder it. This will be the last you see of me. I shall head to a later area. The poison will wear off soon, I recommend getting back to town as quick as possible, the PKs are never ending out here."
With that John "left" the poisoned paladin to lie on the ground and think about what he has done, just like a little kid. Little did the paladin a killer lurked in the shadows waiting for John to leave until he struck.
The murder was sure that John had left and stood over the paladin. "Soon you will be united by your divine leader!" The hooded man laughed like a crazed man. The man began to attempt to plunge his sword only to be met by the dagger of John.
"Who the hell are you?! Gah! I don't care! Fine! I'll kill you first!" The man wanted to add kills to his list, he was a red player. Red players are the worst kind, they are player killers, but now, not only did they kill the avatar but the person controlling it too. John wouldn't let misguided people die by a murder's blade.
John quickly tipped his dagger with another poison, this time the poison would take effect and slowly drain the target of their HP, until reaching five percent of their health, this would be countered with a healing potion that doubled as a paralysis poison. The hooded man stabbed at John quickly, with an incredible amount of strength. This was a beta tester, the same as him. He was undoubtedly the one infamous for killing players left and right in the beta.
John analyzed his situation, he had a wounded paladin that had paralysis for the next ten seconds and then a poisoned dagger equipped with a crazed killer staring him down. Ten seconds, the word came to the front of John's mind again. Nine, Eight, Seven. The killer started his charge at John. Six, five, four… The killer started to swing his sword at John, time slowed and he found his target area, the left hip of the killer was wide open.
John took a stab at the killer, injecting him with the toxin he spent days perfecting. The killer's life points drained quickly, leaving a small sliver of health left. Two, One! The paladin jumped up from the ground and grabbed the killer by the throat. The paladin gave an incredible amount of force into his grip crushing the man's neck killing him, sending sparkling blue polygons everywhere. He had died, the infamous killer, dead.
A soul removed from the world forever, someone who couldn't remember his morals, he was dangerous. Yet John felt a huge sense of regret. John slumped to his knees. "No…No…He can't be…" John was in total disbelief, when he heard people had died, he didn't feel anything, maybe a little remorse, but seeing it… Seeing it had a different effect on him.
John knew exactly what would happen to others, innocents, villains, loved ones, everyone if they didn't know how to survive. John felt sick, his stomach churned and a heavy guilt sunk to the bottom of his stomach.
The paladin put his hand on John's shoulder. "The names Kamiko, I'm sorry about before." John just stared at the ground with wide eyes, unable to process the words from the paladin.
John stood up and started to walk even further away from the town gates. "Kamiko was it? Never let another player in this town die. Be the paladin you're supposed to be. Protect the weak. I must leave, something awaits me, I can't be here…" "John wait!" Kamiko began. "At least take this with you." Kamiko held out the murder's sword. "It will be better than just a dagger." The long sword glistened in the sun of Aincrad. Its steel body shined brilliantly, a sight to behold.
John gripped the sword in his right hand; he could feel a strange sensation coming from it, it felt like the soul of the man who last owned it. John put it in its sheath and walked away with the sword and sheath in hand. "Thank you." With out another word John walked away, knowing now his true goal. Beat this world and bring the creation of Aincrad to its knees. He felt a need to protect everything that lived in the world of Sword Art Online. His hell had become his reality and his worst nightmare had become his life.
With no one to turn to, John continued the path to the next village. There was a group of people there, needing supplies to start a raid on the Floor Boss; he had poisons and health potions to help them. Maybe, just maybe, he could find someone to call friend in this now empty world. The world filled with death, the world filled with lies. John had to find a way to help win the fight against the program.